Patterns of reduction in L2 Russian vowels produced by Italian learners

The results suggest that Italian learners acquire to a significant degree the most salient feature of Russian vowel reduction, the typologically rare /a/-/o/ neutralization. In read speech, they produced full vowels acoustically close to native targets. However, when it comes to subtle quantitative patterns, these features remain inaccessible to intermediate-level learners. It remains unclear whether the rules governing vowel centralization in L2 can be acquired without explicit classroom instruction at higher proficiency levels. Further investigations, especially longitudinal and using naturally produced speech, are needed to better understand the possible trajectories and outcomes of pronunciation learning regarding the vowel reduction patterns.